Hi3rd: Achievement Hunter

The series of events happened all too suddenly. At one point, Mei was making her offensive to Aleph. The next moment, a random girl came out of nowhere and introduced herself as Aleph's childhood friend.

From the moment she heard the name "Kurumi", it explained many things.

'For so long…'

Mei knew about Aleph's childhood friend. They spent time together for three years before 'drifting apart', or so his own words tell. Nevertheless, she was exactly the reason why Aleph couldn't reach an answer.

Their brief conversation in the past came to her mind.

"Do you have someone you like?"

"Someone I like…"

Instead of shifting the topic, Aleph proceeded to answer her question.

"...Maybe."

Since that day, Mei knew there was someone who was significant enough to be treated by him as a romantic partner. Even so, she never gave up. 

Be it Aleph's small acts of tasting her lunch as well as giving her pointers, or the times when he lent her a hand when she needed it…

She is not willing to give them up either.

Although things were still confusing to her, Mei knew what she had to do. Her fingers stopped playing Aleph's hand as she stood up from the sofa. He was left sitting, anticipating what would happen next.

With both arms crossed, she returned Kurumi's gaze with her own.

"So it was you. Aleph told me a lot of things about you."

"Heee? Is that so?" Kurumi playfully looked at Aleph. "I was not aware of it."

She strolled until she was in front of Mei. Her uneven twintails swayed as she did so. Similar to Mei, her arms were also crossed. These seemingly small actions brought Aleph trouble—far more than what the fifth Herrscher did.

Their huge assets were there to see. It was unfortunate that Mei was an entire alphabet bigger than Kurumi.

The other difference were their height. Compared to Mei, Kurumi was far shorter. The former lies at 172 cm while the latter is only 157cm tall. It made it seem as if Kurumi was the younger one.

These made Mei's domineering aura more prominent.

Aleph was sitting on the sofa in-between of them. Now, he understood his bad foreboding feeling on the off-chance the two met.

'The danger coming from them…'

His elemental sight activated quietly. The two were having their silent showdown, giving him enough leeway to think of a solution to cool them down.

As luck would have it…

'Finally..!'

"What is going on here..?"

An unexpected Mobius joins the fray. Her presence broke the tension between Mei and Kurumi.

"Mobius… Well…" 

Aleph interrupted the three of them. 

"It's time for my explanation."

*****

'So it's her…'

Mobius looked at the girl in the gothic lolita dress.

Since Aleph's arrival with the black cat, her intuition rang out. There was something wrong with Aleph.

After Aleph's storytelling of the events, from Kurumi's identity to her current situation, both she and Mei had a grasp on what truly happened.

"Superpowers… You are luckier than I thought."

Mobius commented on Aleph's absurd luck. Superpowers were supposed to be rare enough, yet Aleph encountered more of them.

"I suppose it is not just using shadows you are capable of, Miss Kurumi."

"Ara, ara. You are very sharp." The twintailed girl replied with amusement. "But yes, I am not limited to that. As to whether I shall demonstrate it, you will see when the time comes."

Currently, Kurumi was sitting to Aleph's right. Mei sat on his left, leaving Mobius to sit across them. The latter's pupils merely narrowed to the two of them before her gaze to normal.

"It wouldn't take that long, Mobius."

At this time, Aleph spoke.

"You know about the sixth Herrscher… its ability to travel into the Sea of Quanta. Kurumi can do the same."

""...""

The two women with him fell silent. They already heard about her story from Aleph, though there are some holes into it such as her sudden disappearance.

Never had they expected it was due to her travel into another dimension.

"It was a bumpy trip, but I managed to come across them. There are worlds with varying situations. They were rather interesting to see."

Kurumi did not lie. Before she arrived in this world, the mirror brought her to the Sea of Quanta first. She landed across several 'world bubbles' that were limited in space and isolated from the outside world. Naturally, she did not stay for long either.

"She will be able to help us deal with the sixth. Moreover…" Aleph paused before composing himself. "She did not come from this world."

Aleph dropped another bombshell. It was enough to silence Mei and Mobius once again. The significance of his words were no small matter.

"You might have searched for her whereabouts, Mei. You wouldn't find anything… because she came from another world. A world without honkai."

"..!"

His words were enough to make them freeze.

A world without honkai.

Nobody could imagine the significance of this finding. In the game Aleph knew, the Previous Era sought for worlds without honkai, but to no avail. That was why they were pushed to implement drastic measures in the end.

Knowing that a world without honkai exists…

"...How was it?" Mei asked as she took a deep breath.

It was Kurumi who answered her.

"It was not bad, but not good either. Fufu, if you want to face a god-like being who could destroy the world as she willed, then be my guest." 

She smiled at Mei as she said these words.

"Ahem." Aleph cleared his throat to regain control of the atmosphere. "Kurumi is very strong. She could handle a Herrscher alone. The god she mentioned… it should be far stronger than the Herrschers we faced."

His words served to put down the excitement brought by another world without honkai.

Mobius, who wanted to ask Aleph something, decided not to.

'To disclose a huge secret to us…'

Aside from the shock and excitement, she also felt something else.

'Tsk. Just this time…'

She did not want to admit it, but the level of trust Aleph gave her was enough to make her conflicted.

While Mobius was preoccupied with her internal thoughts, Mei finished reorganizing herself.

"What are you planning to do, Aleph? Now that your childhood friend is here…"

Although Mei asked him with a smile, he knew she was feeling extremely conflicted about it. Her hands were placed on her lap. Her pointy finger periodically tapped on her thighs every now and then.

Their two years of friendship weren't for naught.

'I like Kurumi… but I also like Mei…'

His thought acceleration and parallel minds worked at full strength. Numerous possibilities came to his mind.

His eyes met Mei's. 

Similarly, he knew that Kurumi's gaze lingered at the back of his head.

It was then.

'If I…'

A ridiculous thought came to his mind.

'...do just that…'

Aleph did not hesitate anymore.